A Good Disruption

A  Good Disruption, Redefining Growth In The Twenty-first Century, by Stuchtey, Enkvist, and Zumwinkel, BloomsburyBusiness 2017

Is there a connection between our technologies - smart phones, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, biomaterials, quantum computer, robotics, big data, automation, etc - and the basics of mobility, food and housing?  These three former McKinsey consultants push through to say there is.  Taking a global view, they connect a three-pillar approach to propose increased wealth for a prospering planet:

Abundant clean energy

A "cradle-to-cradle" material bank

High-productivity regenerative systems.

This is all pretty dreamy stuff, but the authors raise the stakes further by suggesting that companies, consumers, governments, NGOs, and investors start to discuss and experiment with the principle of net-positive, and start asking it of the products that they buy.  Whew!  We're talking about a conglomeration of social units - companies, consumers, governments, NGOs, and investors - many of whom at this post-election point won't even look at each other, never mind talk with each other, or being a "conversation".  

Although the case studies and Appendix interviews the authors include are stimulating, they relate mostly to Europe; readers will need to make a transition from a European context, to the US, to fill in the fuzzy pieces of their futuristics puzzle piece.